Specialty Coffee Brew Guide - Pour over

Welcome to the world of specialty coffee! Pour-over is an amazing method of brewing higher quality coffees in a way that doesn’t overheat and over extract the coffee and lets the true fruity and floral notes of the coffee shine through. It is a relatively low cost method and is perfect for enjoying delicious filter coffee from the comfort of your own home. If you’re interested in getting started, check out our Pour-over Starter Kit here!

Overview

Understanding what makes a good cup of coffee is paramount while stepping into the specialty coffee circle. When it comes to manual brewing or alternative brewing, there are 3 main components or variables that you can change and tweak to land that sweet cup of awesomeness! They are:

• Grind size

• Water Temperature

• Brew ratio (coffee: water)

Grind Size

For the Pour-over method, you'll be grinding finer than a French Press but coarser than a Mokapot. Our recommended grind size on your Rhinowares hand grinder is 8-9 clicks. To determine the clicks, we recommend unscrewing the burr completely, then screwing it back until it's tight. Now start unscrewing slowly and count the clicks. Try brewing at 8 or 9 clicks, and depending on how the coffee tastes, adjust grind size. If the coffee tastes bitter go a click or two coarser (loose). If the coffee tastes very sour and astringent (leaves your mouth dry) go a click or two finer (tighter).

Water Temperature

Both the coffee bags that you get with the starter kit are medium roasted towards the lighter end. Ideal brew temperature for this type of roast would be between 90-95C. If you don't have a temperature-controlled kettle, let the water sit for about 2-3 minutes after reaching boiling point.

Brew Ratio

This is the amount of coffee (in grams) you are using per the amount of water (in grams). The general recommended brew ratio is 60g/Ltr or 6g of coffee per 100g of water. This generally produces a nice, balanced cup. To start off, we would recommend using a digital kitchen scale, and measuring your coffee beans, as well as the amount of water you are pouring. If you enjoy this brew method, we would recommend purchasing a digital scale that measures to 0.1 of a gram.

Step by step instructions:

1. Fill the kettle with about 100ml more than what you need for the brew

2. Turn on kettle for water to boil

3. Weigh coffee beans to the recommended brew ratio

4. Grind coffee beans while water is boiling

5. Once water is boiled, take one filter paper, hold it so the ridged edge is on your right, and fold it just either inwards or outwards

6. Make a cone shape with the filter and place it in the dripper

7. Pour some of the hot water into the empty filter paper making sure all of it is wet and discard that water. This helps get rid of any paper-y taste.

8. Add the grounds and tare the scale (having a digital scale will be important for this brew method)

9. Pour double the amount of water to the weight of the coffee grounds. E.g. if brewing 12g of coffee, pour 24g of water. Gently swirl the dripper to make sure all the grounds get wet. This is the bloom phase.

10. After about 35-45 seconds, start pouring once again, the aim is to pour 60% of the total water in the next 15-20 seconds

11. Once that water is in, pour the remaining water at a slower rate.

12. After all the water is in, give the dripper another swirl to even out the grounds.

13. Wait until all the water has gone through.

14. That's it. ENJOY! (We highly recommend trying our Jarmah Microlot and Haraaz Single Origin coffee beans for this method.)

You can watch James Hoffman's V60 video on YouTube for a visual of these steps

Happy Brewing!:)

Warm Regards | Continuum

We would love to hear from you about how you went with your brew. Leave a comment below and do tag us if you post about your coffee brewing experience on social media!

A humble request to say a prayer for Yemen as well all the nations suffering humanitarian crises around the world while sipping your coffee.